GAME #15: Pepperdine vs. #14 Gonzaga | Malibu, Calif. | 7 p.m. | ESPN+ | Tickets
 
TICKETS: A limited number of tickets remain available for purchase, starting at $35. Head to pepperdinewaves.com/tickets to reserve your spot! Also, free pizza for the first 50 students! As usual, entry is free for anyone with a valid Pepperdine student, faculty or staff ID.

COVERAGE: All home and conference contests will be available to stream via ESPN+ for the second-straight season. Head to ESPN.com/Watch to catch the Waves. Hall of Famer Al Epstein continues his streak of 1,207-straight men's basketball broadcasts in his 40th season on the call. Joining him is Kevin Brown in the color commentary seat.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Pepperdine fell 91-80 to Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference opener on Saturday afternoon. The Waves could not stop the Broncos' three-point barrage, seeing SCU hit 15 total including nine in the first half alone. Stefan Todorovic led the Waves with 25 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal while Dovydas Butka added 16 points on a personal stellar shooting night, going 7-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from long range.
 
SCOUTING GONZAGA: The 14th-ranked Bulldogs finished nonconference play at 9-4, falling to #22 UCLA on Saturday afternoon. Three of the Zags four losses came to ranked teams (Kentucky, UConn, UCLA) while the suffered an upset against West Virginia in a November MTE. Graham Ike is fourth in the WCC in scoring (15.5 ppg) and also leads the team on the boards (6.6 rpg). Ryan Nembhard averages 10.2 assists per game, good for second in the country. As a team, the Zags are seventh in the country in assist to turnover ratio (1.9), largely due to Nembhard's efforts.
 
SERIES VS THE BULLDOGS: 31-67, 17-27 home, 12-34 away, 2-6 neutral.
 
BOARD BUDS: Pepperdine currently ranks 44th in the NCAA for defensive rebounds per game (27.7), largely due to the efforts of Butka and Coulibaly who average 7.6 and 7.2 per game and have totaled 134 of the team's 367 defensive boards. Butka ranks eigth in the WCC for rebounding average and Coulibaly closely follows at 11th, while the latter also leads the conference in blocks per game (1.8).
 
SHARING THE WEALTH: Averaging almost seven assists per game, junior Moe Odum could pass his way into the Pepperdine top 10 for cumulative assists in a season if he continues on the same pace. Last season, Odum finished third in the WCC for assists per game (4.6) while playing for Pacific. Currently, he stands sixth in the country for assists per game and second in the WCC in the same category (7.5 apg).
 
CHEF TODOROVIC: Leading the Waves and the WCC in scoring, Stefan Todorovic also ranks 23th in the nation for his 19.7 points per contest. He has also recorded two of the top three scoring outputs in the conference with his 33 and 32 points against UC San Diego and Long Beach State respectively. The Serbian sits fifth in the WCC in field goal percentage (.495), fourth in free throw percentage (.886) and seventh in threes per game (2.1).
 
SCHILLING & COMPANY: Beginning his first campaign as the Waves' head coach, Ed Schilling has gathered a cabinet of assistant coaches with several decades of coaching experience at all levels of the sport, ranging from Power 5 schools to success at the NAIA, junior college and high school levels.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The 2024-25 roster features 14 new faces and just two returners in Boubacar Coulibaly and David Mager. Nine of the 14 transferred in to Pepperdine while four are true freshmen. The roster is also significantly older than in years past, seeing three graduate students and five upperclassmen.
 
FRESH FACES: Head coach Ed Schilling announced the additions of guards Mike Saunders Jr. and Kyle Braun earlier in December. The pair are both graduate students, as Saunders comes from McNeese State and Braun by the way of Marshall. Saunders will join the Pepperdine squad after averaging six points and 16.9 minutes per game playing for 2024 NCAA Tournament team McNeese State. The guard also shot 51.5% from the field and 38.1% from long range for the Cowboys. Braun played two seasons at Marshall and graduated this fall with a bachelor's degree in business administration while minoring in economics and German. During his freshman year, Braun averaged 2.9 points and 1.3 rebounds.
 
PRO WAVES: Maxwell Lewis was the 40th pick in the 2023 Draft and earned big minutes in the NBA Summer League. Kessler Edwards began his professional career with the Brooklyn Nets who drafted him at 44th in 2021 but has since been traded to the Sacramento Kings and now resides on the Dallas Mavericks roster. Pepperdine's record-holder for scoring and assists Colbey Ross currently plays for Pallacanestro Trieste– one of the top teams in Italy.
 
CATCH THE WAVES
Season tickets for Pepperdine men's and women's basketball are currently on sale at pepperdinewaves.com/tickets with single-game purchases to become available October 25. Season ticket prices begin at $99 and fans have the opportunity to purchase a pass for priority parking near Firestone Fieldhouse for $200.
 
PEPPERDINE BASKETBALL: This is the 86th season of Pepperdine men's basketball, and the 51st year that the Waves have called Firestone Fieldhouse home. The Waves has been to the NCAA Tournament 13 times (last in 2002) and has won 12 West Coast Conference regular-season titles (last in 2002) and three WCC Tournament crowns (last in 1994). The Waves won the College Basketball Invitational in 2021.
 
STAY CONNECTED
Keep up with all things Pepperdine hoops by following the team on X and Instagram and find more about Waves Athletics via @PepperdineWaves on all platforms.